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Love as a way of life. I hope you have found that this really is the best way to live. As we have looked at the 7 characteristics of a loving person these last weeks, I hope you are discovering that not only is this way a great way to live, it is the only way we should want to live. Can we live this way everyday? I believe that we can and that it can affect our home, our marriages, our parenting abilities and our work environment. We will look at each of these areas this week, and let the rubber meet the road, and the nitty meet the gritty! Let’s start in the home. If we want to enjoy satisfying relationship and a loving and peaceful home environment, we must discover that the only way to find that in our homes is to love others well. It must be intentional and deliberate. The only way to make loving people a habit that flows naturally from your soul is through God’s power. To become more loving in the home, we need to acknowledge that we often fall into unloving habits that can be changed. Paul declares that we can do all things though Christ who empowers us in our inner man. It is not about will power, it is Christ in your who offers you the strength you need to love others. So how can we be more kind, more patient, more forgiving, more courteous, more humble, more generous, and more honest in our homes? One way that affects all of those characteristics is in the words we speak. When we put a guard on our mouth, we will think before we say anything unkind, or be polite words instead of going first, or letting others shine instead of one upping their story, or giving a compliment or encouragement instead of holding back, or speaking words of love from your heart, instead of being silent. So use your words today, to show that you love. I love HG TV decorating and gardening shows, and their most recent motto is start at home…..why not try that today. Start at home. Put these principles to work….right where you live. You can do it through Christ’s power at work in you.

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Word for the Week: Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dayilyeword. We have been talking about how we can love more like Jesus, and have been going over the seven main characteristics of a loving person. I hope you are beginning to exhibit these seven: Kindness
Patience
Forgiveness
Courtesy
Humility
Generosity
And Honesty
So as a review and follow up, we are going to spend this week being encouraged and motivated to walk in love and demonstrate love as a way of life through honesty. Be encouraged today! We can make a lifelong impact on our world by authentically loving others.

As we are winding down this series, I hope there have been some positive changes in you as you are putting these foundational aspects of love into your life. Looking back over the previous weeks, we have discovered that love really can become a way of life, I hope you have begun developing the 7 characteristics of a loving person. In review, they are kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity, and honesty. As we authentically love people, these habits will become a part of who we are. As we talked about earlier, even if you are not naturally bent to operate in them, you can develop the habits and characteristics of a loving person. The main advantage we have going for us is that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts, and we can show that to others. We aren’t powerless. We have the power of God on the inside of us. How wonderful and amazing is that. If you want to do further study, I encourage you to purchase Gary Chapman’s books on love. He has several, including the one we have used for our Love Project, called Love as a way of Life. The 7 keys to transformation are really characteristics that we can begin to develop. As we take off selfishness, and lay it at the feet of Jesus, we can truly make love a way of life. It can become so natural to us, that the selfish way we used to act is just a dim and distant memory. These characteristics will not just be something that we have to do to be more loving, they will be a part of who we are. Others around you might even begin to comment on what a patient person you are, or how kind or generous your actions are. In that process, we are not patting ourselves on the back, but we are glorifying God. He gets the praise and the glory for the amazing things He is doing in us. Why not today, just take a moment and thank God for what He is doing in you. His works really are magnificent! Bless Him today.

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There is blackness in the little white lie. There is nothing little or white about telling things that are not true. We are talking about being honest today, as one of the ways that we can show love to those around us. Honesty really is speaking truth. It is revealing who you really are. It is being consistent in what we say, what we think and what we do. The problem with lies is that you have to keep telling more of them. You start with one, and sooner than you know it, you have to tell another one to cover the tracks of your last lie. Life gets really complicated. Not only complicated, but it can be exhausting. The one who told the lie has to remember what lie they told to what person, and then have to keep up the story. Living in truth is so much better. You probably remember the story of Chicken Little when he told everyone the sky was falling. Because it was just an acorn that fell, nobody believed him when there really was something to be concerned about. It’s a lot like the little boy who cried wolf. We need to speak the truth, so that when we really do need help, no one will question our honesty. We live in a world where everybody lies, right? No! And you don’t have to. Just because everybody else does it, doesn’t make it right! If you are asked to lie for someone, just say no. We can be the ones who think the truth, say the truth and live the truth. Does that sound hard? It could be, but there are great rewards for living in the truth, so start today….be a truth teller, a promise keeper, and an honest person.

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We ended yesterday with the thought, that the world is watching us as believers. Let’s live how Christ would live. Let others follow me, like I am following Christ, just like Paul said. Obviously we are not perfect like Jesus, but we have been given power to live life boldly, authentically, and in truth. The tools are ours, all we have to do is operate in them. How does that work out in the real world? It can happen in lots of ways. As we finish out this week talking about honesty as one of the foundation principles of a loving life, I think it is good to see the connection of honesty with every other trait we have talked about so far.
Think of how honesty is tied to each of these traits with an example of how to put it into action.
*Kindness- A kind person will be honest- I love the kind honesty of a friend who tells me when I have lipstick on my teeth, or a thread hanging off of my jacket.
*Patience – A patient person will be honest – There is a gentle way to say I wish you were on time. It could sound like this. You are important enough in my life to wait for, but when you take up my time by being late, I have to reconfigure my schedule.
*Forgiveness – A forgiving person will be honest. I choose to forgive, even when I don’t feel like it, because an honest person realizes forgiveness isn’t based on feelings, forgiveness is a choice.
*Courtesy – A courteous person will be honest. Excuse me, I didn’t realize that my car was in your way, or apologizing when your actions were selfish or haughty, by saying, please forgive my rude behavior, it was totally uncalled for.
*Humility – Is living honestly. We know where we get our value from and we are not overinflated, or under inflated! We are a cracked pot – a jar of clay, but we hold a treasure that can’t be measured with human hands.
*Generosity – A generous person will be honest. I would love to give to your cause, but I have already chosen to give to my church and the other charities that I support.
We can say things in a loving way, and still be kind, patient, forgiving, courteous, humble and generous. So this weekend, find a way to be more like Jesus. Act like He does. It is Biblical! We are told in Gal 5;1 to imitate Christ. Put the Word into practice today!

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When we live truthfully, we are being authentic. We are being people of integrity. Loving with integrity means being open about our weaknesses. We may want to appear better than we are, but that is not living authentically. Loving with integrity means recognizing how important the truth really is. Christians live on a higher plane, just because others don’t tell the truth, doesn’t mean we can lower our standard. We must remember that thinking, speaking and living in the truth is what we do as Christians. It is who we are. The life of a truth teller continues to influence others even after death. Loving with integrity means being consistent in our life choices. Our body language speaks as much as our eyes or our words, and they must be consistent. They should all reflect the same truth. Loving with integrity means being a risk taker for the sake of the truth. If confrontation is hard for you, this may be a difficult point. It may not be comfortable, but it is essential. Integrity calls us to take the risk of loving others by telling them the truth when it is needed. Loving with integrity also means keeping your promises. It takes only one promise left unfulfilled for someone to question your integrity. If we really want to love with integrity, let’s do those five things….*be open about our weaknesses, *recognize the importance of truth, *be consistent in thoughts, words and deeds, *take necessary risks to live in truth, and keep our promises. When we promise something, let’s stick with our promise. Let’s do everything within our power to hold to our vows to our spouse, or our promises to your children, or our commitment to our employer/employees. If we want to live authentically, and love authentically, let’s fight for truth, let’s stand up for what is right, and let’s live life with integrity. The world is watching. Let’s show them how Christ would do it, by how we live! Make those words of Paul part of your life, “follow me, like I follow Christ.”

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“If you have nothing nice to say, saying nothing at all.” Those famous words are from the movie Bambi. A very profound thought from the mouth of a bunny named Thumper! The lesson behind it is don’t say things that aren’t nice. Untruthful words, are not nice! Sometimes truthful words said in a harsh ways are not nice as well. The lesson is to watch what we say and how we say it. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. The Bible says that exactly. We are to speak the truth in love, and if we really want to be people who demonstrate love as a way of life, not only will we think about what we say before we say it, we will watch the manner in which we say it as well. Body language and timing are very crucial in showing love through our words. When someone is hurting, is not the time to feel the need to truthfully say that you told them so! Being a loving person is one who uses their words to build and encourage. They ask God to give them wisdom to confront situations in a truthful way, in the right time, and the right setting. The seeds we plant with our words will eventually grow. What do we want our words to go up and become? They do produce after their own kind. And usually the seed doesn’t fall to far from the tree. Do you want your legacy to be one of encouragement, and a life lived in the truth? Or do you want your legacy to be of a deceitful life, where perception and reality were disconnected? As people who serve the Lord, who have made a decision to follow Christ, our words should be rock solid. There should be no doubt that every time we open our mouth, we speak truth. We are promise keepers, we are truth tellers, we live our lives honestly, and we will use our words to bring life, help, hope, encouragement and blessing to those around us. Thanks for the reminder, Thumper!

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Most of us know what honesty is. It is being a person who tells and lives in truth. If we look at the opposite side, we should find out what telling the truth does not mean. We can damage the lives of those we love if we are brutally honest with our words.
According to Gary Chapman in Love as a Way of Life, telling the truth does not mean:
*Telling everything that we have knowledge of. We don’t want to damage a reputation by telling everything we know to everyone we know. You probably know someone like that! You have to be careful when you are around them, because you know whatever private thing you might tell them will be public knowledge.
*Verbalizing all of your emotions. It can be detrimental to speak forth everything you feel, all the time. Feelings and emotions need a filter, because feeling are fickle, they can change quickly.
*Making an excuse to be unloving. Allowing your emotions to control your behavior and expressing them under the guise of honesty stimulates additional negative emotions in the other person’s mind.
*Telling secrets for personal gain. Don’t sacrifice truth on the altar of success or even just a feeling of being one up on another person, or having the last word.
*Jeopardizing justice. Men and women of integrity will not tell everything when to do so would be detriment to the cause of justice. (An example of this would be the families who hid Jewish citizens to protect them from the Nazis.)
When we live truthfully, we are being authentic. We are being people of integrity. That is who we are called to be. When we live in truth, we are free to love others for who they really are. As we live honestly we can reveal who we really are. What a wonderful way to live. Freely loving others, and letting others know the real us.

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A new definition of honesty is a loving consistency in speech, thought and action. What we say, what we think and what we do can all be constant, or be in line with the truth. Think back in your own life. You probably have a memory of a time or even many times when you weren’t told the truth, or someone wasn’t honest to you. Or perhaps you were told the truth about someone else who wasn’t being honest with you. Most often those kinds of memories are not pleasant. You feel like you were deceived. Once you have felt something like those emotions, usually you would think that because of how it made us felt, you would never want to do something like that to someone else. Sometimes that happens, and sometimes not. Whatever the case, let’s make sure that from this point on, whenever we are given the opportunity to speak truth, to do it in love. Any time you are not sure whether to say something or not, ask yourself, do my words reflect every trait of a loving person? Then think about the other attributes of love that we have talked about up to this point. Do my words demonstrate kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity and most definitely honesty. What would your relationships look like if that was your criteria for any words that come out of your mouth? I think we would live in much happier homes, more peaceful communities, and even a better world. We hear it often, in our green world to think locally and globally. We can do that with our words too……start where you are the little ripple can begin an even bigger ripple around you. We do affect our world one life at a time. So measure your thoughts, think on things that are pure, godly and honest. Measure your words, by saying only things that are filled with truth. And then measure you actions. Does what you are about to do line up with the characteristics that show love as a way of life? They can, and they should. Let’s be the ones who do that consistently.

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Word for the Week: Eph 4:24,25 – be made new in the attitude of your minds, and put on the new self which is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Intro:
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dayilyeword. We have been talking about how we can love more like Jesus, and have been going over the seven main characteristics of a loving person. I hope you are beginning to exhibit these seven: Kindness
Patience
Forgiveness
Courtesy
Humility
Generosity
And Honesty
So as a review and follow up, we are going to spend this week being encouraged and motivated to walk in love and demonstrate love as a way of life through honesty. Be encouraged today! We can make a lifelong impact on our world by loving others through being honest.

Live in truth! Doesn’t that sound like the best idea ever? I know in a real world where it is acceptable to distort the truth and to live in one’s own perception of reality, being a person who tells the truth and lives in truth is a rare thing. Let’s not make it a rare thing in our life. In John 8:32 it says that when we know the truth we know, the truth will set us free. The Message Bible says it this way, if we stick to what Jesus has told us, we are truly His disciples and we will experience the truth and the truth will free us. I think one of the most fabulous things about being a Christian is being able to experience freedom. When we realize that freedom in our lives is connected with truthful living, it should make us even more conscious of how we live our life. Honesty and a pure life go hand in hand. If we want to be clean before the Lord, our words, our actions and our thoughts are to be consistently loving. One thing I have discovered in my own life is that we never outgrow the desire to be told the truth. As children, we wanted to know the truth, will it hurt? will it be hard?, will you keep your promise? As adults we still want the truth. Will the product really do what you say it will?, are there any hidden charges?, will I have to receive emails from thousands of other companies because I purchased something from yours? Maybe you haven’t had that scenario happen to you, but some of us have. We believe the ad, and either we don’t get what we paid for, there are hidden charges that being showing up on your credit card statement, or you get more junk email than you ever wanted! And sometimes a virus in your computer as a bonus. Let’s not be like the world. We live a higher standard. Our standard is truth and honesty. Utter honesty is clearly refreshing in our world. Let’s be the ones that others say about us, they always are honest, if you need to know the truth, ask them, or their life is full of integrity and they are totally trustworthy. What a great reputation we can have if our words, thoughts and deeds are filled with truth and honesty.

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When it comes to generous living, giving of actual money is a very important element. God set up the system so that we live under the umbrella of blessing when we give back to him from what he has given us. It is called the law of sowing and reaping, or the principle of the farm, or the seed. What you sow will grow! As Christians, who have the ability to work, love calls us to invest our energies into making money so that we can provide for the needs of our families, and have more than enough to give away. How do you determine what to give away? The Bible makes it very clear that the tithe, or 10% belongs to God. He gets the cream off the top, and we should order our lives to give that first. Our expenditures should never exceed our income, after we have given our tithe and offerings, and put away a percentage for saving for the future. That is not common thinking in our world. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, and then put on credit cards whatever extra they need. That is part of the reason the world is in the financial mess it is today. As Christians, let’s be good stewards. Let’s give God what is his, and use the rest wisely. If we want the ability to be generous with our money, we must be good stewards! We must make decisions based on Godly priorities.
When it comes to actually making a decision of where to sow your offering (remember the tithe goes to the storehouse – so 10% goes to your church- the offering is above the tithe), here are some simple criteria. Because there are so many good causes you can give to, think big picture. Here are two really good questions to ask. 1) Is the organization I am giving to based on Christian principles? 2) Do they use any of the money I give to support things I don’t believe in? When we answer these questions we can give generously to those who really will benefit from our gifts. We can increase in our generosity and make love a way of life.

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